DOWNTOWN BEIJING Since our last blog from Beijing, formerly Peking we have enjoyed getting acclimatised to the area whilst resting after our flight and a great days hike on the Great Wall. We enjoyed several shorter walks around our hotel watching locals go about their everyday lives, little market stalls being set up on the side of the road and we noticed that the fresh produce disappeared as quickly as the farmers were putting it out. A good sign of fresh produce and looking at the stalls excellent quality. We were going to use the subway and head a little further into the city but Marco our guide for our wall hike informed us that some of the stations were closed because of the security, rehearsals for the pending celebrations - the previous evening he had ... read more

We flew from Udaipur to Mumbai (Bombay of old) and then an onward flight to Nagpur located in the Indian state of Maharashtra. The city is notable for its juicy oranges and extensive amounts of them are sent out to different parts of India and abroad. Due to the long distances we had to rest here for the night before heading off to visit three of the National Parks. It was here in Nagpur that my Uncle, Ronald St John Groves was posted to a teaching seminary in 1937 just three months after being ordained in Devizes, Wiltshire. All was well at first and he enjoyed his first mission but when WW2 started he was the only Englishman for miles, the rest were German, Italian and French and life became pretty unbearable so he returned to ... read more

HEADING TO RANTHAMBORE In our last blog we had arrived at the railway station in Bharatpur and I must say we were quite astonished as we walked along the platform to see groups of people scrambling across the lines to reach the platform on the other side rather than use a perfectly situated bridge! Even the ladies with their long silk saris were crossing on foot and being helped up on to the platform on the other side - we of course used the bridge … … After a short wait on the station platform we boarded the train which was quite full but everyone had seats. Although we did change ours as two guys had huge suitcases under the table and asked us to swop as there was nowhere else to stow them - we ... read more

‘Varanasi is old than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together’ - Mark Twain Varanasi in the state of Uttar Pradesh takes its name from its situation on the banks of the Ganges, on the confluence of two rivers, Varuna and Assi. It is said that the city rests on the trident of Lord Shiva thus imparting an incomparable energy into it. Known to devout Hindus as Kasha it is one of the oldest living cities in the world and is the aspiration of every devout Hindu to die at Kasha thus ensuring a direct passage into heaven. It is here where thousands of Hindu pilgrims immerse themselves in the sacred Ganges River every day of the year. This very sacred and vibrant spot ... read more

OUR EXTRA LONG FLIGHT TO TRINIDAD They told us Trinidad and Tobago would be the perfect combination of Caribbean and South American birding - so we decided to head back to the Caribbean - the last time we had visited, just Tobago was in 2003. Well we had a ‘bit’ of a journey getting there but considering the amount of time we travel it is to be expected that things do not always go according to plan! We had reached the runway at Gatwick when the Captain said they had developed a fault with one of their sensors which would unable them to fly through ‘clouds’ so he would have to return to the Airport Terminal for Engineers to fix it … … So back in a holding bay we sat on the plane and after ... read more